 Hi, I'm Candice. I am an agitator, community organizer, activist, economist, person of color. And I believe it is important to cut the Pentagon economy because we are misallocating our wealth as humanity to a killing machine that does not allow people to breathe. And we see it reflected on our streets. We see it reflected in our homes. And we see it reflected in our future if we don't stop there. The Pentagon budget, it's a giant corporate giveaway. Over half of our Pentagon budget goes directly into the pockets of private military contractors who literally make a killing on killing. The top five, they're Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman. And combined, they get a total of $158 billion, our tax dollars, in 2020 alone. The Pentagon budget is not good for the planet. The Pentagon is the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world, releasing around 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases between 2001 and 2017. Just one of the military's jets, the B-52 Strato Fortress, consumes about as much fuel in an hour as the average car driver uses in seven years. The Pentagon militarizes our borders. While the Pentagon itself is a large contributor to climate change, it is called climate change a threat multiplier, using the possibility of climate refugees caused by the U.S. military's own policies to further militarize our borders. The Pentagon budget is not good for workers. The CEO of the top weapons manufacturers received a combined total of nearly $100 million in pay last year. Pentagon spending is used to line the pockets of wealthy executives while pushing workers to the side. For every dollar spent on the Pentagon, we could generate twice as many jobs in health care. The Pentagon budget is racist. The Pentagon receives so much funding, they send excess military equipment to police forces around the country through the 1033 program. The militarization of our local communities disproportionately hurts black, indigenous, brown, and other communities of color, the poor, the low-income, the disabled, and the LGBTQ people the most. The Pentagon budget hurts indigenous communities around the world. From the line-safe pipeline to Okinawa, Japan, U.S. military is one of those climate change which disproportionately affects indigenous communities. The same militarized tactics used in the so-called war on terror, which were deployed against indigenous-led line-three protesters. The Pentagon pollutes our environment, our land, our water. When was the last time you had a drink of water? I know. I need a lot of water every day. Unfortunately, millions of people in this country do not have access to clean water. And for some, it's because they live near a superfund site. Did you know that the U.S. military has 900 abandoned military sites that are superfund sites? I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to drink water that's filled with depleted uranium, jet fuel, benzene, all sorts of toxic chemicals. We've got to cut the Pentagon budget. It's going to kill us. The Pentagon budget brings us closer to nuclear war. A recent study out from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the United States will spend $634 billion over the next decade to rearm our already massive nuclear arsenal while refusing to institute a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons. This dangerous policy choice means that the threat of nuclear war and nuclear winter is now higher than it was during the first Cold War. The Pentagon budget seriously skews our budget priorities. We just ended the disastrous U.S. war in Afghanistan, yet lawmakers want to increase the Pentagon spending by $40 billion in 2022. At the same time, they claim we just can't afford to spend the equivalent of half of the annual Pentagon budget to invest in things like healthcare, childcare, education, and green jobs. Enough is enough. We need to cut the Pentagon for the people, planet, peace, and the future. Join us at cutthepenagon.org.